COUNTY COUNSEL
MISSION STATEMENT
The Mono County Counsel's Office provides the highest quality legal representation and advice to the County, its Board of Supervisors, the County Administrative Officer, all County Departments, boards, agencies, and certain special districts in a manner which conserves financial resources, reduces the County’s exposure to liability, and supports the delivery of outstanding government services to the public.
DEPARTMENTAL OVERVIEW
The Office of the County Counsel is in-house legal counsel for the County of Mono, the Board of Supervisors, County officers, departments, commissions and other entities within County government, and also provides support to the Civil Grand Jury. Legal services are additionally provided to some special districts and other entities outside County government on a cost-recovery or courtesy basis.
CHALLENGES, ISSUES & OPPORTUNITIES
The single largest challenge the County Counsel’s Office faces is a workload that exceeds staff capacity. Second to that is the increasing complexity and specialization in the law which requires more use of outside legal counsel specializing in narrow practice areas. To address these challenges, this Office requested, and received, additional funds in the 2019-20 budget for outside counsel services. The additional flexibility to utilize outside counsel services has assisted in addressing the top two challenges, and should be continued and expanded in 2020-21, if economically possible.
DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
CORE SERVICE & PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Office’s core service is to ensure legal compliance by all components of Mono County. To accomplish this, we draft and review contracts, ordinances, resolutions, employee MOUs, policies, correspondence, agendas and other materials related to the conduct of County business; remain current with applicable laws and regulations, including tracking developments in caselaw and statute; attend Board and other County meetings to provide legal counsel and guidance; and represent the County in State and federal court in all civil matters and in child protection and conservatorship matters.
Other responsibilities include reviewing the status of workers’ compensation claims with third-party administrator, serving as liaison with departments, making recommendations for settlement, and coordinating the return to work and modified duty program. The Risk Manager also develops, implements, interprets, monitors, and administers policies and procedures in accordance with state and federal regulations. The Division also facilitates training of County staff to reduce County losses and to improve County leadership.
CORE SERVICES
DEPARTMENTAL ACTION PLAN FOR 2020-2021
There are many projects which the County Counsels’ Office is already involved with which will continue into the 2020-21 fiscal year. These include (but are not limited to):
• COVID-19 Response – advising and representing County w/r to COVID-19 response and activities including personnel rules, business guidance, legal compliance, contracting, etc.
• Radio System Upgrades – drafting and/or reviewing contracts, financial documents, etc.
• Bridgeport Jail Construction – drafting and/or reviewing contracts, bonds, bid packages, etc.
• Long Valley Litigation – continuing representation of County in litigation
• Opioid Litigation – continuing representation of County in litigation
• Conway Ranch – advising as to legal options for long and short-term uses of land and water, drafting and reviewing contracts, leases and other documents
• Solid Waste Transition – preparing documents and providing advice related to the closure of Benton Crossing Landfill and conversion to a different system for solid waste handling
• Code Enforcement Matters – prosecuting code enforcement matters requiring court action and through administrative processes
• Affordable Housing– preparing documents and providing advice related to the development of affordable and permanent supportive housing
• Personnel Matters – providing advice and counsel to Human Resources, the CAO and Department Heads regarding various ongoing personnel matters
• Child Protective Services – representing DSS in child protection cases
• Conservatorships – representing DSS and BH in conservatorship matters
• Redistricting – advising regarding legal requirements for 2021 supervisorial redistricting
• Elections – advising regarding legal requirements for November 3 election, preparing and reviewing documents
In addition to projects such as the examples listed above which keep the entire office quite busy, the following are overarching goals which are part of our action plan for 2020-21:
• Address workload and workflow – this involves outreach to departments to identify situations where our time is not being efficiently used (i.e., where we are performing department work); as well as further work within the department to increase efficiency and flow.
• Continue to enhance knowledge base, experience
POSITION SUMMARY
MEASUREMENTS, RESULTS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
This is in progress. https://www.monocounty.ca.gov/strategic-planning and https://monocounty.quickbase.com/db/bke733bw6
Strategic Result #1
MONTHLY UPDATE
In this section, go into further detail about the data or media being shown. Think about how the visualizations help tell your story.
Make your content more accessible by writing short sentences, choosing words and phrases you’d use when talking to a neighbor, and avoiding jargon.
Strategic Result #2
MONTHLY UPDATE
In this section, go into further detail about the data or media being shown. Think about how the visualizations help tell your story.
Make your content more accessible by writing short sentences, choosing words and phrases you’d use when talking to a neighbor, and avoiding jargon.
Strategic Result #3
MONTHLY UPDATE
In this section, go into further detail about the data or media being shown. Think about how the visualizations help tell your story.
Make your content more accessible by writing short sentences, choosing words and phrases you’d use when talking to a neighbor, and avoiding jargon.